Out of the Park, the universally beloved manage-only baseball sim, enters its second season on the iPhone as iOOTP Baseball 2012 Edition. It avoids any talk of a sophomore slump by beefing up the core game modes in all the right places.
The baseball games in iOOTP are essentially made up of a series of managerial decisions. You don’t have to worry about whether you’re quick enough to swing the bat or skilled enough to properly locate a pitch. But you do have to decide to attack a hitter, or pitch around him as a pitcher, or swing away, or hit and run (or run and hit!) as a batter. This year’s game gives players the option to play each pitch of each at-bat, limit each at-bat to the crucial pitch, or skip to particular innings if you really want to manage your team but don’t particularly care about certain portions of the game.
Also new for the 2012 version, in addition to updated rosters for the 2012 MLB season, are real schedules for the historical seasons in the game. iOOTP comes packed in with three historical seasons: 1924, 1969 and 2004, but additional seasons can be added via in-app purchase. Now if you play that 1924 season, you’ll play the same exact schedule as back in the day.
If you’re a fan of simulation baseball, iOOTP Baseball 2012 is a must-own. Even if you purchased last year’s version, there are enough new customizable wrinkles to 2012 to make a new download worth every penny.
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